Encyclopedia
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is a politician from
Connecticut, United States. Lieberman was elected to the
United States Senate in 1988 and is in his third term as a U.S. Senator from Connecticut; as the Democratic Nominee for Vice-president in 2000, he is the first Jewish-American to win the popular vote in a national election in the
United States. Lieberman is currently campaigning as the Connecticut For Lieberman candidate for the United States Senate in the November 2006 elections.
Early life and career
Lieberman was born in
Stamford, Connecticut to Henry Lieberman , the son of
Polish Jewish immigrants and Marcia Manger of
Austrian Jewish background. The Liebermans owned the Hamilton Liquor Store, which the couple operated until Henry Lieberman’s retirement in 1977. Along with Joseph the couple had two daughters, Rietta Miller and Ellen Lieberman. Joe Lieberman attended
Stamford High School and was elected as president of his senior class in 1960. He received his BA in Politics and Economics from
Yale University in 1964. He was the first member of his family to graduate college. After graduating, he attended
Yale Law School receiving his LLB law degree in 1967. In 1963, he traveled to Mississippi to help African-Americans register to vote. After graduation from law school, he worked for a New Haven based law firm, Wiggin & Dana LLP.
Lieberman was elected as a "reform Democrat" to the
Connecticut Senate in 1970, where he served for 10 years, including the last six as Majority Leader. He suffered his first defeat in Connecticut elections in the Reagan landslide year of 1980, losing the race for the Third District Congressional seat to Republican Lawrence Joseph DeNardis, a state senator from suburban
Hamden with whom he had worked closely on bipartisan legislative efforts. From 1982 to 1988, he served as Connecticut's 21st Attorney General and emphasized consumer protection and environmental enforcement.
Personal life
Lieberman met his first wife, Betty Haas, at the congressional office of Senator
Abraham Ribicoff , where they worked as summer student interns. They married in 1965 while Joe Lieberman was in law school. They had two children – Matt and Rebecca. Betty, who is also Jewish, later worked as a psychiatric social worker. In 1981, the couple divorced. During an interview with New York Magazine, when asked about the divorce, Lieberman said, "one of the differences we had was in levels of religious observance," he says. "But I'm convinced if that was the only difference, we wouldn't have gotten divorced." In 1982, he met his second wife, Hadassah Freilich Tucker while he was running for attorney general of Connecticut. Hadassah Lieberman is the child of a Holocaust survivor. According to Washington Jewish Week, Lieberman called her for a date because he thought it would be interesting to go out with someone named Hadassah. . They married on March 20, 1983. Since March 2005, Hadassah Lieberman has been working for Hill & Knowlton, a lobbying firm based in New York City, as a senior counselor in its health and pharmaceuticals practice. She has held senior positions at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials ,
Pfizer, National Research Council, Hoffmann-La Roche, and Lehman Brothers. Joe and Hadassah Lieberman have a daughter, Hani. Lieberman also has a stepson from Hadassah's previous marriage, Ethan Tucker. Matt Lieberman graduated from
Yale University in 1989, and from
Yale Law School in 1994. He is the Head of School of Greenfield Hebrew Academy in Atlanta, GA. Rebecca Lieberman graduated from Barnard College in 1991, and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1997.
She is married to Jacob Wisse, son of Harvard professor and fiery pro-Israel hardliner Ruth Wisse.
Ethan Tucker graduated from
Harvard College in 1997 and was a rabbinical student at the
Jewish Theological Seminary.
Lieberman never served in the military. A spokesperson told the Hartford Courant in 1994 that Lieberman received an educational deferment from the
Vietnam War draft when he was an undergraduate and law student from 1960-67. Upon graduating from law school at 25, Lieberman qualified for a family deferment as he was already married and had one child, Matt. The draft ended in 1973.
Between 2000 and 2004, the Liebermans' income ranged from $266,600 to $499,735. In their joint 2005 federal tax return, the couple's total income in 2004 was $366,084, which includes $146,608 from Joe Lieberman's job in the Senate and $76,950 from Hadassah Lieberman's job with Hill & Knowlton. The couple reported another $91,446 in income from speaking and consulting fees – largely earned by Hadassah – and $27,000 in capital gains earnings. They paid more than $60,000 in taxes. They made $13,127 in charitable contributions and received a $5,241 tax refund. Lieberman underpaid his federal taxes in 2002, resulting in a $739 penalty.
Religion
Lieberman is an Orthodox Jew, though he was less observant in 1965 when he married Betty Haas, a
Reform Jew. Since the death in 1967 of Lieberman's grandmother, a deeply religious immigrant, he found renewed interest in religious observance. His second wife, Hadassah, is also an observant Orthodox Jew. "Hadassah calls herself my right wing," says Lieberman. In Lieberman's 1988 upset of GOP incumbent Senator Lowell Weicker, his religious observance was mostly viewed in terms of inability to campaign on
Shabbat. This changed when Gore chose Lieberman as the running mate; a Lieberman press officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said:
The Liebermans keep a
kosher home and observe the
Shabbat. Nonetheless, some Orthodox Jews have voiced concerns about the Liebermans' omissions, such as Hadassah's infrequent covering of her head.
Lieberman has said that there is currently "a constitutional place for faith in our public life." Lieberman attends Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown, Washington, DC and Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol - B'nai Israel, The Westville Synagogue, New Haven, Connecticut.
Publications
Lieberman is the author of five books:
The Power Broker , a
biography of the late Democratic Party chairman, John M. Bailey;
The Scorpion and the Tarantula , a study of early efforts to control
nuclear proliferation;
The Legacy , a history of
Connecticut politics from 1930-1980;
Child Support in America , a guidebook on methods to increase the collection of
child support from delinquent fathers, and
In Praise of Public Life ,
Senate tenure
In 1988, Lieberman defeated moderate Republican Lowell Weicker to win election to the
United States Senate and was re-elected in 1994 and 2000. Like
Bill Clinton and
Dick Gephardt, Lieberman served as chair of the Democratic Leadership Council, a group that has now been overtaken by conservative, corporatist Democrats with the goal of shifting the Democratic party away from traditionally populist and pro middle class positions.
Lieberman was first elected to the
United States Senate as a Democrat in
1988, by a margin of 10,000 votes. He scored the nation's biggest political upset that year, after being backed by a coalition of Democrats and unaffiliated voters with support from conservative Republicans, who were disappointed in three-term Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker's moderate voting record and personal style. Lieberman ran especially well in conservative areas of the 5th District, where Democratic presidential candidate
Michael Dukakis received fewer votes than George H.W. Bush. During the campaign, he received support from the hard-line Cuban-exile community who were unhappy with Weicker, who was known as a supporter of
Fidel Castro. Lieberman has since remained loyal to the anti-Castro cause. Six years later, Lieberman made history by winning by the largest landslide ever in a
Connecticut Senate race, drawing 67 percent of the vote and beating his opponent by more than 350,000 votes.
In 1998, Lieberman was the first prominent Democrat to publicly challenge
Bill Clinton for the judgment exercised in his
affair with
Monica Lewinsky. However, he voted against removing Clinton from office by impeachment. In 2000, while concurrently running for the vice presidency, Lieberman was
elected to a third Senate term with 64 percent of the vote easily defeating the Republican Philip Giordano.
When control of the Senate switched from Republicans to Democrats in June 2001, Lieberman became Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, with oversight responsibilities for a broad range of government activities. He is also a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and chair of its Subcommittee Clean Air, Wetlands and Private Property; the Armed Services Committee, where he chaired the Subcommittee on AirLand Forces and sits of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities; and the Small Business Committee. When Republicans gained control of the Senate in January 2003, Lieberman resumed his role as ranking minority member of the committees he had once chaired.
As Senator, Lieberman is Ranking Member and former Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is responsible for assuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the Federal Government. In addition, he is a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee; Senate Armed Services Committee, where he is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Air Land Forces and sits on the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities; and the Small Business Committee.
Vice-Presidential campaign
In August 2000, Lieberman was selected as the nominee for
Vice President of the United States by
Al Gore, the Democratic Party nominee for President. Lieberman was the first Jewish candidate on a major political party ticket. The announcement of Lieberman's selection resulted in an increase in support for Gore's campaign.
Like Democratic VP candidates
Lyndon Johnson in 1960, and
Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, Lieberman's Senate term was due to expire during the election cycle. Like both Johnson and Bentsen, he decided to stage a run to maintain that seat. Unlike them, Lieberman's decision would have affected control of the Senate if Lieberman had become Vice President, which would have required a swing of only 269 votes in the Florida
Presidential race. In that case, Republican Connecticut governor John G. Rowland would have been able to name a replacement.
Some questioned the strategy of having Lieberman run for both offices, saying that it "threatens his party's chances of winning a Senate majority."
Lieberman later criticized Al Gore for adopting a populist theme during their 2000 campaign, and stated he had objected to Gore's "people vs. the powerful" message, believing it was not the best strategy for Democrats to use to win the election.
Presidential campaign
On January 13 2003, Lieberman announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination as a candidate in the
2004 presidential election. Describing his Presidential hopes, Lieberman opined that his historically hawkish stance would appeal to voters. Although he placed second in
Delaware a few weeks later, on February 3 2004, Lieberman withdrew his candidacy after failing to win any of the five primaries or two caucuses held that day. He acknowledged to the
Hartford Courant that his support for the
war in Iraq was a large part of his undoing with voters.
Lieberman's former running candidate Al Gore did not support Lieberman's Presidential run, and in December 2003 endorsed
Howard Dean's candidacy, saying "This is about all of us and all of us need to get behind the strongest candidate [Dean]."
Political positions
Domestic policy
;Affirmative action
In a 1995 speech before the National Press Club, Lieberman said, "this business of deciding by group, the argument that some make that some groups are genetically less able than others. That's an un-American argument." Affirmative action programs "must change because they are inconsistent with the law and basic American values of equal treatment and opportunity." He also stated that he was "against group preferences". In 1996, he expressed support to the California's Proposition 209, which will eliminate state and local government affirmative action programs in the areas of public employment, public education, and public contracting to the extent these programs involve "preferential treatment based on race, sex, gender, color, ethnicity, or national origin."
"Affirmative action is dividing us in ways its creators could never have intended.", he said.
Since 2000, he rescinded his support for the proposition, saying that he expressed support "without understand[ing] the intent of Proposition 209",
In the 2000 campaign, Lieberman assured the black voters, "I have supported affirmative action, I do support affirmative action, and I will support affirmative action because history and current reality make it necessary."
In 2003, Lieberman criticized Bush's affirmative action policy. In 2004, he reiterated his support, "I support affirmative action programs, including in appropriate instances consideration of race and gender in government contracting decisions, when the affirmative action program is designed to remedy the effects of past discrimination."
Lieberman has stated he wants to increase subsidies for women-owned non-profit business. He also voted yes on setting aside 10% of highway funds for minorities & women.
;Consumer Protection
Lieberman was one of four Senate Democrats to side with Republicans in 1995 in voting to limit punitive damage awards in product liability cases.
In February, 2005, breaking ranks with the Democratic majority, Lieberman voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, S. 5, which is a bill to curtail the ability of plaintiffs to file class-action lawsuits against corporations in federal courts. The bill was backed by the White House and business groups as an essential tort reform measure that would reduce what they said was a debilitating number of frivolous lawsuits. The bill was opposed by consumer advocacy groups and trial lawyers who argued that many valid claims against corporations would be dismissed, leaving consumers without legal recourse.
;Education
Lieberman championed experimental voucher programs, letting parents who could afford the tuition to use federal
money to send children to public or private schools of their choice.
Lieberman has called Bush's "No Child Left Behind" plan a "progressive piece of legislation" which has been insufficiently funded. He said, "A month after he signed the law, President Bush under funded it by $6 billion less than was promised in the legislation. This is creating greater pressures on our schools to perform and educate our kids - which is appropriate - but without giving them sufficient resources to make it happen." He has repeatedly criticized the administration to this effect.
;Entertainment Industry
Lieberman has been critical of the entertainment media. On November 29, 2005, Lieberman co-sponsored the Family Entertainment Protection Act, which was introduced by
Hillary Clinton, S.2126. The act is intended to protect children from what he says is inappropriate content found in video games. He has denounced the violence contained in video games and has attempted to regulate sales of violent video games to minors, arguing that games should have to be labeled based upon age-appropriateness. Regarding Grand Theft Auto, he said, "The player is rewarded for attacking a woman, pushing her to the ground, kicking her repeatedly and then ultimately killing her, shooting her over and over again. I call on the entertainment companies--they've got a right to do that, but they have a responsibility not to do it if we want to raise the next generation of our sons to treat women with respect."
Lieberman was however, one of 16 senators to vote against the Communications Decency Act.
;Environment
Lieberman co-sponsored 1990 Clean Air Act, introduced legislation in 1991 to give
consumers more information about the dangers of pesticides, and has made statement addressing the need to address global warming.
Lieberman has stated that US population has to accept responsibility for global warming, and voted "yes" on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Lieberman voted yes on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 . Lieberman voted against Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior, and voted for funding for greater risk assessment by the EPA. Lieberman has even gone as far as saying he wants to raise mileage standard to 40 mpg. Lieberman voted for the administration-backed Energy Policy Act of 2005; facing criticism, Lieberman called the bill imperfect but good for Connecticut, citing a saving of $800 million for Connecticut electricity customers. Lieberman has been a vocal critic of Bush's environmental policy.
;Flag burning
Lieberman has voted against amending the
Constitution to prohibit flag burning.
;"Gang of 14"
On May 23, 2005, Lieberman was one of fourteen senators, dubbed the "Gang of 14," who forged a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus avoiding the Republican leadership's implementation of the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would exercise the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance," and three of the filibustered Bush appellate court nominees – – would receive a vote by the full Senate, which resulted in their confirmation. Lieberman refused to support a filibuster against Supreme Court Justice nominee
Samuel Alito. Alito was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 31, 2006 by a vote of 58-42, becoming the Court's 110th Justice. Lieberman voted against the Alito confirmation in the final Senate vote. On the
John Roberts nomination as the
Chief Justice of the United States, Lieberman believed that Roberts did not seem to be the kind of right-wing candidate the "Gang of 14" feared the president would select. Lieberman said he thought Roberts was a "decent guy." But he also said it was too early to draw further conclusions. Roberts was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 29, 2005 by a vote of 78-22, becoming the Court's 17th Chief Justice. Lieberman voted for the Roberts confirmation.
;Gay rights
Lieberman voted no on a constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. In 2003, in response to the Massachusetts ruling that sanctions gay marriage, Lieberman stated, "although I am opposed to gay marriage, I have also long believed that states have the right to adopt for themselves laws that allow same-sex unions," and "I will oppose any attempts by the right wing to change the
Constitution in response to today's
Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling, which would be unnecessary and divisive."
In 2004, Lieberman scored a rating of 88 out of 100 by the
Human Rights Campaign , one of the largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality."Lieberman voted for the amendment, saying "society should not be promoting the homosexual lifestyle". He voted for prohibiting HIV-positive immigrants from entering the United States and against a measure to grant domestic-partner benefits to District of Columbia employees.
;Gun control
Lieberman received an "F" rating from the
National Rifle Association and a 90% from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. He has sought to ban guns in schools and places of worship. He has voted against prohibiting most lawsuits against gun manufacturers, but cast another vote that would immunize gun manufacturers from lawsuits over gun violence. He has voted to require background checks at gun shows and against allowing guns to be sold without trigger locks.
In 2000, he opposed
Al Gore's position to require a license to purchase a new handgun. Although they disagreed on this issue, Gore asked Lieberman not to change his position.
During his 2004 campaign, Lieberman said, "The day I walk into the Oval Office, the first thing I'm going to do is rescind the Bush administration restrictions on
embryonic stem cell research." He has criticized Bush's recent veto of the embryonic stem cell research.
Lieberman has been critical of Bush's Medicare plan, arguing that in its current state, it does not provide sufficiently for our nation's elderly.
On April 29, 2005, Lieberman introduced S. 975, the Project BioShield II Act of 2005, to provide incentives to increase research by private sector entities to develop medical countermeasures to
counter bioterrorism threats. The bill seeks to grant liability protection for these drugs and an extension of patents to companies that produce drugs needed in case of a bioterrorism attack.
Lieberman was a vocal opponent of efforts to remove the feeding tube artificially sustaining
Terri Schiavo's life. Lieberman and a few other Democrats joined efforts by Republican Florida Governor
Jeb Bush and the Republican Congress to circumvent state and federal court rulings siding with Terri's husband and legal guardian,
Michael Schiavo.
Lieberman had a 75% pro-choice voting record in 2005, and 100% pro-choice voting records in the years 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004, according to
NARAL. During the 2000 Presidential campaign, he promised to not to support legislation that was being introduced in Congress to override the FDA decision on RU-486 a pill that causes abortions. He has supported requiring minors to have parental consent before having
abortions at federally subsidized clinics. He voted against banning some late-term
procedures known by its opponents as "
partial-birth abortion". Lieberman said that Orthodox Judaism considers abortion to be a personal matter, although many Orthodox Jews disagree.
;Social Security
Lieberman cosponsored a resolution urging the Congress to reject the Bush Administration Social Security Commission's report.
Lieberman described the debate as "this is an ongoing problem, and we'd be wise to deal with it." He told
The Hartford Courant in January of 2005 when asked about Social Security, "if we can figure out a way to help people through private accounts or something else, great."
Although Lieberman praised
Lindsey Graham for trying to fashion a bipartisan social security plan, he ultimately voted against the Bush Social Security plan. but in the 2004 Democratic Presidential Primary, he criticized the desire of most Democrats to repeal all or almost all of Bush's tax cuts, arguing that "tax cuts are an important tool of fiscal policy to get the economy going again".
He helped defeat the Financial Accounting Standards Board proposal of requiring the reporting of the costs of stock options as a business expense during the mid-nineties. During an interview with
PBS after the
Enron scandal, Lieberman defended his position, saying, "it was a good action." Facing the growing stock option scandals, Lieberman ackowledged that "clearly a disproportionate percent of the options went to a small percentage of executives. That was di
sappointing."
Foreign policy
;Iraq War
Lieberman sponsored S.J. Res.46, the Senate version of H.J. Res. 114, that is, the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, also called the Iraq Resolution.
Lieberman defended his support of the Iraq Resolution; in a November 29, 2005 op-ed piece for
The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper [i] published in New York City [i] ...
, he praised the efforts of the U.S. military in the occupation of Iraq and criticized both parties:
"I am disappointed by Democrats who are more focused on how President Bush took America into the war in Iraq almost three years ago, and by Republicans who are more worried about whether the war will bring them down in next November's elections, than they are concerned about how we continue the progress in Iraq in the months and years ahead."
Later, on December 7, 2005, Lieberman said, "It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be Commander-in-Chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine Presidential credibility at our nation’s peril. It is time for Republicans in the White House and Congress who distrust Democrats to acknowledge that greater Democratic involvement and support in the war in Iraq is critical to rebuilding the support of the American people that is essential to our success in that war. It is time for Americans and we their leaders to start working together again on the war on terrorism. To encourage that new American partnership, I propose that the President and the leadership of Congress establish a bipartisan Victory in Iraq Working Group, composed of members of both parties in Congress and high ranking national security officials of the Bush Administration."
Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid rebuked Lieberman, saying, "I've talked to Senator Lieberman, and unfortunately he is at a different place on Iraq than the majority of the American people." House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi added, "I completely disagree with Lieberman. I believe that we have a responsibility to speak out if we think that the course of action that our country is not making the American people safer, making our military stronger and making the region more stable." Lieberman responded, "I've had this position for a long time – that we need to finish the job."
Lieberman's defense of the administration resulted in speculation that he is attempting to position himself to replace Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld or another high-ranking government official, but Lieberman has denied having any desire for this. In 2005, media reports suggested that Lieberman might replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Lieberman responded with, "It's a total fantasy, there's just no truth to it."
On June 22, 2006, Lieberman voted against two Democratic amendments to the annual defense appropriations bill, including S. 2766, calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. S.2766 did not set a withdrawal deadline, but urged President Bush to start pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq in 2006. Both amendments were defeated in the Senate, 60-39.
;Free trade
Lieberman supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and continues to do so.
During a 2004 Democratic presidential primary debate in South Carolina, he said, "though it's cost some jobs, has actually netted out 900,000 new jobs that were created by NAFTA". Lieberman also voted for the Central America-United States-Free Trade Agreement in 2005.
Lieberman is also the co-author of the US-China Relations Act that would create new incentives in bilateral relations with China. He voted for the U.S./China
World Trade Organization Accession agreement in 2000.
;Israel
In 2002, Lieberman sponsored a pro-Israel U.S. Senate Resolution regarding the Middle East Conflict, "expressing solidarity with Israel in its constant efforts to fight against terror".
Lieberman currently ranks fourth on the list of candidates receiving money from pro-Israel PACs in 2006, according to The Center for Responsive Politics." As of July 10, the most recent figures available, Lieberman had received $66,500 for the PACs out of $8.5 million raised." According to the
Associated Press, in 2000, Lieberman received $83,000 from pro-Israel PACs when he ran for his Senate seat. While generally refraining on commenting on foreign policy during the
Senate race in 2006, he reaffirmed his strong support for
Israel, “when there are groups attacking innocent civilians, it is the right of Israel and all peace loving people to protect themselves."
;Homeland security
The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, while Lieberman was chairman, first proposed forming the
Department of Homeland Security, in 2001. The bill contained provisions that would establish a university research center for domestic security, most probably at Texas A&M University; would allow many businesses that have left the country to avoid federal taxes to contract with the new department; and would provide legal protection to companies that make ingredients for vaccines.
;Geneva Conventions
Lieberman supports the
Alberto Gonzales policy memo on the application of provisions of the
Geneva Conventions. He believes "the decision was, in my opinion, a reasonable one, and ultimately a progressive one." He agrees with Gonzales in describing certain provisions of Geneva Conventions, specifically "that a captured enemy be afforded such things as commissary privileges, script advances of monthly pay, athletic uniforms and scientific instruments” as "quaint". He also agrees with the legal decision that
al Qaeda's members "were not entitled to prisoner of war status."
In 2006, the United States Supreme Court ruled in
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. ___ [i], 126 S.Ct. ...
that "at least" Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is applicable to combatants "in the territory of" a signatory of the Conventions.
During an exchange with Donald Rumsfeld in the 2004 senate hearing on the
Abu Ghraib scandal, Lieberman denounced the abuses as "immoral" and deserving apology. Then he added, "I cannot help but say, however, that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized. Those who have killed hundreds of Americans in uniform in Iraq working to liberate Iraq and protect our security have never apologized."
Bush kiss
Following his 2005
State of the Union address, President Bush, while shaking lawmakers’ hands, abruptly grasped Lieberman’s head in both hands and leaned in close to his cheek. The incident became known as "the kiss." At first, Lieberman staff humorously referred to the embrace as "some kind of Yale thing." However, political backlash arose among
Lamont supporters and other critics of Lieberman. Lamont backers used the incident in a campaign button: "The Kiss: Too Close for Comfort" and a large
papier-mache sculpture which stalked Lieberman on the campaign trail. Lieberman has since denied the kiss took place. "I don't think he kissed me, he leaned over and gave me a hug and said 'thank you for being a patriotic American,'" Lieberman told
Time Magazine. After Lieberman's defeat in the Democratic primary, some have claimed Bush's sign of affinity cost him the election, and referred to the smack as "the kiss of death."
2006 re-election campaign
Democratic Primary Results| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
| Ned Lamont | 146,587 | 52% |
| Joe Lieberman | 136,468 | 48% |
Millionaire lawyer Joe Lieberman sought the Democratic Party's renomination for U.S. Senate from Connecticut in 2006. He faced opposition from the Democratic candidate, millionaire businessman
Ned Lamont, and the Republican candidate,
Alan Schlesinger.
On August 8, 2006, Lieberman conceded the Democratic primary election to Ned Lamont, stated that "I can not and will not let these results stand" and announced he would run in the 2006 November election as an independent candidate on the Connecticut for Lieberman ticket.
Primary timeline
Ned Lamont, a Greenwich businessman, opposed Lieberman in the Democratic primary election. Lamont, the great-grandson of
Thomas W. Lamont, former chair of
J.P. Morgan & Co., contributed $1.5 million to his own primary campaign, pledging an additional million dollars. Lamont ran primarily on opposition to the Iraq war and distinguished himself from Lieberman on issues including opposition to the
USA PATRIOT Act, his support of the right to
same-sex marriage, support for universal health care, support of universal availability of pre-kindergarten public school, his opposition to
capital punishment, and Lamont's pledge not to accept money from lobbyists.
Early in the race, Lieberman led by 46 points according to a May 2
Quinnipiac Poll, but by August 3, the Quinnipiac Poll showed Lamont leading by 13 points over Lieberman in the primary. That poll indicated a commanding lead for Lieberman in a three-way race.
Some Democrats, believing that a contested Democratic primary would drain resources from other races and that Lieberman would help the Democratic ticket in November, discouraged the Lamont candidacy prior to the Democratic state convention and backed Lieberman. Former Democratic State Chairman John Droney compared the Lamont challenge to "cannibalism" and Senator
Harry Reid asked Lamont not to run.
On May 19, Lieberman received 67 percent of the vote at the state Democratic convention, and Lamont received 33% of the vote, thereby qualifying for an August 8 Democratic primary.
On May 20, Connecticut Republicans nominated former Derby, Connecticut, Mayor
Alan Schlesinger to run in the November election.
On June 12, Lamont began airing radio ads promising to endorse Lieberman if he lost the Democratic primary, and challenging Lieberman to do likewise and foreclose an independent run for the Senate.
On June 16, Lieberman released a web-based ad on his campaign site aimed at Lamont's support from Lowell Weicker. Produced by political consultant, Carter Eskew, the animated ad was a sequel to a 1988 spot portraying Weicker as a sleeping bear - this time, Lamont is Weicker's "bear cub." The narrator of the ad asked, "Remember Lowell Weicker? Well, bears never forget. He's never gotten over losing his Senate race to Joe Lieberman, but instead of coming out of hibernation, he's sent his bear cub, instead. Ned Lamont."
On July 3, Lieberman announced that he would file papers to appear on the November ballot should he lose the August 8 primary stating: He stated that he would continue to sit as a Democrat in the Senate even if he was defeated in the primary and elected on an unaffiliated line, and expressed concern for a potentially low-turnout August 8 primary.
On July 6, a debate between Lieberman and Lamont took place.
MSNBC characterized Lieberman as "combative," "super-aggressive and sometimes rude" "often interrupting Lamont" to which Lamont retorted, "This isn’t
Fox News, sir." In the debate, Lamont refused to explain why he would not release his federal and state income tax returns, as Lieberman has done.
On July 9, Lieberman released an ad which, according to an e-mail to constituents, parodies one of Lamont's ads and features a fake bumper sticker claiming that "all Lamont has to say is 'No More Joe.'"
Factcheck.orgOn July 10, the Lieberman campaign officially filed paperwork allowing him to collect signatures for the newly formed Connecticut for Lieberman party ballot line.
On July 24, former President
Bill Clinton campaigned with Lieberman in
Waterbury:
On July 28, Lieberman started airing a TV ad featuring Clinton's endorsement. Since Lieberman's loss in the Democratic primary, however, both Bill and Hillary Clinton have announced their support for Lamont.
On August 1, 2006, an email was sent out by College Republicans with the subject "Unconventional Primary Campaign Opportunity ".
Lieberman conceded defeat in the primary to Lamont on August 8, 2006, losing by 48 percent to 52 percent.
November elections runup
On August 9 2006, Lieberman announced his intention to run as an "independent Democrat" in the upcoming November election. He petitioned to run on the ticket of Connecticut for Lieberman party.
When Lieberman filed his petition to run as an independent candidate, he also officially gave up all affiliation to the Democratic Party. However, the Senate Democrats have yet to formally recognize Lieberman's party conversion.
Alan Schlesinger is the Republican candidate for Senator from Connecticut. His positions include guaranteed social security, planning for economic difficulties with the Medicare programs, Seasonal Employee visas to stem illegal immigration, eliminating the deficit by 2010, tax reform and bringing the troops in Iraq home soon.
The first poll after the primary showed Lieberman ahead of Lamont by 5 points. Polls since then show Lieberman leading by varying margins: August 17th Quinnipiac showed Lieberman ahead of Lamont by 11 points among registered voters and 12 points among likely voters.
August 19 SurveyUSA: Lieberman ahead by 3 points. August 21 ARG: Lieberman ahead by 2 points. August 21 Zogby: Lieberman ahead by 10 points. Sept 12 SurveyUSA: Lieberman ahead by 12 points.
Schlesinger barely registers support and his campaign has run into problems based on alleged gambling debts.
On August 9 2006,
Hillary Clinton affirmed her pledge to support the primary winner: "voters of Connecticut have made their decision and I think that decision should be respected," and
Howard Dean called for Lieberman to quit the race, saying he was being "disrespectful of Democrats and disrespectful of the Democratic Party."
According to
National Public Radio's "Political Junkie" column, "24 senators have been denied renomination in the past half-century; only one,
Jacob Javits , attempted to keep his seat in November, and he didn't come close." Javits ran on the now-defunct Liberal Party ticket after losing the Republican primary to
Al D'Amato, against D'Amato and Democratic nominee
Elizabeth Holtzman. D'Amato won the general election with 45.1% of the vote, narrowly defeating Holtzman with 43.8%. Javits won only 11.1% of the vote. The
New York Times stated in a 1986 editorial that D'Amato had won in 1980 "only because Jacob Javits drained liberal votes away from a Democrat." However, there are virtually no similarities with the Javits/D'Amato/Holtzman race, because the Republican candidate is not a factor, registering at 2-6% in all major polls. The Lieberman-Lamont race is extremely unusual, in that the independent is one of only two major candidates.
On August 10, Lieberman attacked Lamont in his first campaign appearance since losing the Democratic primary, referencing the
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot:
Critics responded by claiming that Lieberman is already attacking other Democrats by using similar language to Republicans. “That comment sounds an awful lot like Vice President Cheney’s comment on Wednesday. Both of them believe our invasion of Iraq has a lot to do with 9/11. That’s a false premise,” said Lamont. Supporters counter that these statements reflect the reality of the situation as the overwhelming majority of military, intelligence and political experts in both major parties concur with these opinions.
There is some debate over what impact Lieberman's campaign has on several tight House races in Connecticut. Some argue that Lieberman will bring out Republican supporters, who will vote for Lieberman and then cross over to support the Republican House candidates. Others, such as Rahm Emanuel, argue that having two Democrats running against each other will increase the Democratic turnout, which will then benefit the Democratic House candidates.
On August 17, 2006 the National Republican Senatorial Committee stated that they would favor a Lieberman victory in the November election over Democratic nominee Ned Lamont. The NRSC has stated that they are not going so far as to actually support Lieberman, however.
Former New York Mayor
Rudy Giuliani praised Lieberman at a South Carolina campaign stop on August 18, saying he was "a really exceptional senator." . Other Republican supporters of Lieberman include New York Mayor Bloomberg, Jack Kemp, Fmr. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Senator Susan Collins of Maine.
Five Democratic Senators have maintained their support for Lieberman, and Lieberman has also received the strong support of former Senator and Democratic stalwart Bob Kerrey, who has offered to stump for him in the fall.
On the other hand, on August 21,2006 a group of New Haven Democrats filed an unprecedented complaint with the New Haven Democratic Registrar of Voters demanding that she purge Lieberman from the Democratic voter rolls.
Harry Reid, minority leader, Chuck Schumer,
DSCC Chairman, and other Democratic Senators are coming under heavy pressure to do the same. Reid has promised Lieberman that he will retain his committe positions and seniority if he prevails in the general election.
On August 28, Lieberman campaigned at the same motorcycle rally as GOP Congressman
Christopher Shays. Shays is in a tight race with Democrat
Diane Farrell that could help decide which party controls the House of Representatives. Shays told a crowd of
motorcycle enthusiasts, "We have a national treasure in Joe Lieberman," and
Fox News aired a report showing the two candidates hugging
On September 22 it was announced that Mel Sembler, a former
Republican National Committee finance chairman, helped organize a reception that raised about a "couple hundred thousand dollars" for Lieberman, who was personally in attendance. Sembler is a prominent Republican who chairs
I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's legal defense fund following his indictment last year on charges that he lied to
FBI agents and a federal grand jury about how he learned
CIA operative
Valerie Plame's identity and when he subsequently told reporters. Other Republicans reported to be planning fundraising events for Lieberman include former
New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and Bruce Bialosky, a long-time Republican fundraiser from
California.
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